Thu, 10 Nov 2011

Conventional wisdom held that Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry doesn’t do well in debates. That’s an understatement compared to the new extremes Perry demonstrated in his debating ineptness during the GOP debate at Oakland University, in suburban Detroit, on 8 November. On his own policy position, Perry burned through two lifelines and came up empty handed. It was so painful even people who didn’t watch the debate were wincing. Afterwords, Perry summed up his mental blocks:

I’m glad I had my boots on tonight. I stepped in it out there.

Ya think? Perry stepped in it so deep it was over his head. As for what he had such trouble with, Perry couldn’t name the three agencies of government he planned to shut down if elected. “There were so many federal agencies that come to mind, that I want to get rid of, that the Energy Department would not come out,” Perry told ABC’s “Good Morning America”. Perry remembered Education and Commerce, though with some trouble for the latter, but Energy only came to mind later in the debate.

Perry’s candidacy has got to be so done that it makes a self-immolating protester seem merely medium rare. Too bad he doesn’t see it that way; Perry is continuing his campaign.

No matter how good his ideas or how effective his programs might be, we just can’t afford to take a chance on Rick Perry. He can’t remember key points, he can’t debate, and he can’t think on his feet. Simply put, Rick Perry is just not presidential material.

Tue, 18 Oct 2011

Pres. Obama has been traveling around North Carolina and Virginia in his Stealth Bus, the all-black $1.1 million Canadian-American customized luxery coach, the Death Star of the roads. Republicans claim the trip is a taxpayer-funded campaign tour, a charge the White House denies. Let’s face it, anything a politician—of any party or persuasion—does or says in public has a campaign element to it. So, all you Republicans who felt Pres. Bush got chastised by the media for everything he did, get over it, stop pointing at Obama, sit down, and stop saying “but, but, but…”

One of the points in Obama’s jobs plan is payroll tax cuts, intended to put more money into workers’ pockets and encourage employers to hire at reduced costs. What the President doesn’t tout is he wants to extend the current worker tax cut, due to expire at the end of the year, and increase it from 2% to 3.1%. That’s just half of the normal 6.2%. He’s already blaming Republicans if this doesn’t happen and he can just see jobs withering away from less money in your pocket.

So don’t be bamboozled. (Laughter.) Don’t fall for this notion that somehow the jobs act is proposing to raise your taxes. It’s just not true. Under this—here’s what will happen. If we don’t pass the American Jobs Act, if we do not pass the provision in there that extends the payroll tax cut that we passed in December, most people here, your taxes will go up by $1,000. So voting no against the jobs bill is voting in favor of middle-class families’ income taxes going up. And that’s a fact. Don’t take my word for it—all the reporters here, they can check on the facts on this thing. That’s the truth.

Are any reporters fact-checking the only payroll taxes the Federal government collects are Social Security (FICA) and Medicare?

Mon, 17 Oct 2011

Detroit and its suburbs enjoy bus service from not one, but two dysfunctional systems. Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT) buses primarily serve the city while Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) buses serve the suburbs, including forays into downtown Detroit. It’s not at all uncommon to see buses from one, the other, or both, chasing each other—even leap-frogging as one stops while another goes to the next stop. As many as half of DDOT’s buses are in the shop waiting to be fixed. Even former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick knew way back in 2004 that DDOT was a broken system. As for SMART, individual suburbs can opt out, so the system has traverse these unserved areas to connect those that are served. Declining property values left SMART underfunded by its millage, so the system plans to lay off 123 and cut or eliminate service on 36 routes.

Nine years ago, Southeast Michigan was on the cusp of a solution called the Detroit Area Regional Transportation Authority (DARTA). After years of negotiating and political maneuvering, the Michigan House and Senate had passed the necessary legislation. Then, in a moment of extreme self-importance and political spitefulness, the Jaba-the-Hut-esque John Engler (R) vetoed the bill mere nanoseconds before his rotundness rolled out of office as his term as governor expired. Thanks, John. The region has been paying the price ever since.

The elephant in the room is still getting city and suburbs to put their differences aside and craft a true, workable transit solution for Southeast Michigan. Imagine how much farther along we would be if Engler hadn’t been such a jackass.

Share this:

Like this:

Wed, 28 Sep 2011

Metro Detroiters are fiercely loyal to the D. We’re so accustomed to negative news, it’s a pleasant surprise to hear something good about Southeast Michigan. Such was the case yesterday when I heard only Detroit and Washington DC saw housing values increase over the last year. Unfortunately, experts think renewed foreclosures will erase any gains achieved during the Feds looking into robo-signing and other lender irregularities.

After a nearly 3 year investigation, the former chief and 5 other Romulus police were charged in a corruption scandal. Former chief Michael St. Andre faces 10 charges; he and his wife could each be sentenced to 20 year terms. What’s bad is the allegation the chief and detectives used drug forfeiture money to buy drugs (marijuana), alcohol, and pay for prostitutes. Their criminal enterprise converted tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to personal gain, but I can’t believe the amounts were worth the penalties they face.

Detroit and its suburbs have a love-hate relationship. Coleman A. Young, the city’s first Black mayor, characterized Detroit as surrounded by hostile suburbs. The suburbs, for their ugly part, are reluctant to play nice with Detroit. There are separate city and suburban bus systems—DDOT and SMART—in the tri-county service area. The suburbs get their water from Detroit Water and Sewerage, and the suburbs regularly posture for more control of the board.

As an aside, it’s interesting to note then Gov. George Romney—father of presidential candidate Mitt Romney—called out 4,000 Michigan National Guardsmen in response to the riot. Subsequently, Romney requested Federal troops to augment DPD, the State Police, and National Guardsmen. While I’m not wearing his shoes, that’s a pretty significant escalation of forces in a very short period of time. It’s also a part of the elder Romney’s legacy you don’t hear anyone talking about, considering 43 (34 rioters) lost their lives in the 4 day period.

Behind us stands the Brent Spence Bridge. It’s located on one of the busiest trucking routes in North America. It sees about 150,000 vehicles cross over every day. And it’s in such poor condition that it has been labeled functionally obsolete. Functionally obsolete. It’s safe to drive on, but it was not designed to accommodate today’s traffic, which can stretch for a mile.

Mr. Boehner, Mr. McConnell, help us rebuild this bridge. Help us rebuild America. Help us put this country back to work.

Obama’s jobs plan focuses on construction, which had 13.5% unemployment in August, compared to 9.1% overall. The the President talks about putting unemployed construction workers back to work. Unfortunately, his jobs bill won’t help the right people. Jobs grew over the last year in every construction sector except residential; they’re not the ones who build bridges. And what about all the unemployed in other industries? Less than chickenfeed for them.

Considering its questionable effect, Big Stimulus was very costly with little benefit. Unemployment was at 7.3% before enacting the stimulus bill; it’s 9.1% today. The government reports stimulus saved or added about 2.4 million jobs which means taxpayers spent $288,000 on each of them. That equates to 976 weeks (almost 19 years!) of unemployment benefits at the averge US amount of $295 per week. Seriously?

Tue, 20 Sep 2011

Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and billionaire Manuel (Matty) Moroun’s Detroit International Bridge Co. (DBIC) had a legal agreement on the Gateway Project to connect I-75 and I-96 directly to the privately-owned Ambassador Bridge. Construction, which cost Michigan taxpayers $230 million and shut down I-75 to facilitate construction for over a year. Still, DBIC failed to live up to its commitments and 18 months after a court order to comply, DBIC is no closer to meeting its obligations.

What’s really interesting about this is both former Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) and current Gov. Rick Snyder (R) support the Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) public span, at odds with Moroun’s second private span.

Fri, 09 Sep 2011

Déjà vu is the feeling of experiencing what’s going on now repeats some previous similar event or activity. President Obama’s jobs speech to Congress, in an 8 September 2011 joint sesssion, feels like that. Some other concepts that come to mind:

“Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.”—Winston Churchill

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”—Henry Ford

“Hope is not a method.”—Gordon R. Sullivan

“You can’t have your cake and eat it too.”—John Heywood

The size of Obama’s proposed $447 billion jobs bill is over half that of 2009’s stimulus bill. Like its predecessor, the jobs bill includes tax cuts designed to spur private sector jobs and give working class people more take-home pay so they can spend it and create a need for more workers. It also includes money for education and infrastructure projects, just like the stimulus bill. Counterintuitively, both the stimulus and jobs bills also called for extended unemployment benefits.

There should be nothing controversial about this piece of legislation. Everything in here is the kind of proposal that’s been supported by both Democrats and Republicans—including many who sit here tonight. And everything in this bill will be paid for. Everything.

Mon, 05 Sep 2011

Sen. Debbie Stabinaw (D-MI) was there. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI-14) led cheers for jobs. Seriously? Can anyone see Conyers cheering for anything? His speaking style is the most depressing I’ve ever seen or heard. Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) rode with the President on Air Force One to Detroit. It was like a black hole of hope amidst the ruins of reality.

We’ve got roads and bridges across this country that need rebuilding. We’ve got private companies with the equipment and the manpower to do the building. We’ve got more than 1 million unemployed construction workers ready to get dirty right now. There is work to be done and there are workers ready to do it. Labor is on board. Business is on board. We just need Congress to get on board.

Wed, 03 Aug 2011

Our penny-wise, dollar-foolish, dysfunctional so-called representatives (Congressmen and Senators) in Washington barely managed to cobble together a debt ceiling deal before the economy tumbled into the abyss. Then they went home for a month-long vacation, leaving the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) without appropriations to operate. As a result, about 4,000 FAA employees are on furlough, meaning they don’t work and they don’t get paid. How many of them, do you suppose, live paycheck to paycheck? How many of our elected officials will help them out during their involuntary layoff? Add to that another estimated 70,000 construction workers idled by stop work orders on various FAA-funded projects. They’ll all collect unemployment, thus adding to the cost of doing business and the cost of government. The 74,000 laid off will also skew the jobless numbers, which will affect stocks and other aspects of the economy.

The previous FAA reauthorization expired 22 July. There has been no long-term (meaning 2-4 years) for the FAA since 2007. Meanwhile, some airlines have raised ticket prices, pocketing the previous tax amounts the government is not, presently, collecting. Do you suppose they’ll lower prices when the taxes come back on line? If you do, just start sending your checks to me—it’s more productive than just burning your cash.

At issue in the debate are, essentially, two fundamental aspects. The most publicized is the Essential Air Service (EAS) subsidy, which pays airlines to provide commercial service to largely remote areas. In Michigan, that affects 8 airports with EAS subsidies:

This FAA bill funded the EAS for two-and-a-half years. So that would be stable funding for two-and-a-half years rather than a few months at a time. I think it’s a good program and I’m all for it. As far as I was concerned, it was a vote for the program.

So, let me see. Benishek votes against the FAA reauthorization, but it’s really a vote for the Essential Air Service program. Reminds me of “These are not the droids you’re looking for.” Is anyone else confused by this? That said, however, the travel distances to “non-essential” air service facilities seems to justify ending this taxpayer subsidy. Heck, I live in metro Detroit and it takes me about 45 minutes to get to Detroit Metro. Suck it up and drive an hour to another airport.

Interestingly, Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI-03), a Tea Party freshman from Grand Rapids, broke party lines and voted against HR 638. He’s the only Michigan representative that didn’t vote with his party. Apparently, he was opposed to the general fund subsidy, according to Amash’s Facebook post:

[Justin Amash] just voted no on H R 658, FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act. The bill authorizes FAA activities through 2014. Under the bill, the authorized FAA spending level is flat-lined at the FY 2008 level for FY 2012-2014. That is a savings of $495 million per year over current spending. Even so, the bill relies on subsidies from the general fund to cover about 25% of total costs. The bill passed 223-196.